UK garbage industry is worth $4.5 billion

London
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One man’s waste is another man’s gold. According to a report by a British government agency the country’s garbage disposal is potentially worth over $4.5 billion.

The Local Government Association (LGA) in the UK recently carried out a review on how waste is disposed of in the country and one of the major findings showed that local governments could earn billions from waste disposal. The review, entitled Wealth from Waste, estimated that by 2020 the money earned from waste disposal could create around 50,000 new jobs, reports Resource.

"There is clearly wealth in waste. The UK's waste and recycling sector is currently worth around £11 billion and growing at twice the rate of the rest of the economy, but there is so much more we could do to make the most of this booming industry,” commented Clyde Loakes, an LGA executive.

Incredibly the UK produces round 26 million tonnes of garbage every year, reports SCM. "Taxpayers will be better off, the economy will benefit, and more people will have jobs if we grow our domestic market for collecting, sorting and reprocessing recycling. Landfilling waste costs a lot of money; burning it is still expensive; recycling actually brings in cash for the taxpayer and we owe it to today's hard-pressed taxpayers to get as much of their money back as possible,” said the LGA report. The Wealth for Waste review stated that “It is time to take the lid off the dustbin debate and raise the sights of government.”